Robert The Bruce | 3 Floyds Brewing Co.

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Reviews by FormatKid:

Another beer I received as part of my BIF XII and another beer Im excited to try from the great Three Floyds brewery. Packaging is a standard 12oz bottle with Three Floyds signature slick, professional looking label.

I poured this beer out into a standard tumbler pint glass. The body is a ruddy transparent brown, similar to that of a good brown ale. Scattered, medium sized carbonation bubbles cruise slowly to the top. What small amount of head was there disappeared rather quicly into a partial, greasy looking film on the top of the brew. This like every other FFFs brew I have tried has chunks of stuff floating in it, hop matter is my best guess.

The smell is sweet caramelly, I pick up toffee, and Im also picking up a smell that reminds me of chewing tobacco. Also picking up a bit of pine from the hops in the nose.

The flavor is sweet, and almost a bit to the mild side. The malts are the dominate flavor throughout, they cycle from sweet, caramelly, to nutty, to roasty. Chewing tobacco registers in the flavor as well as light, roasted coffee. A slightly resinous hop flavor slides its way into the finish. Carbonation is very soft and light and the mouthfeel seems a bit less than I would like it to be. There is no evidence at all at the bigger ABV at all in smell or flavor, this could be a dangerous one, because it is also easily poundable if one would want to approach it that way.

A good beer! Admittedly I have little experience with the style, but I liked this one enough. If I could ask for anything it would probably be a little more hearty of a mouthfeel.

More User Reviews:

Best Scottish Ale I have had (and I have tried many!). Full flavor, not bitter and a taste that lingers on the tongue perfectly. Very slight nuttiness. Great with a hearty meal or even better all by itself. Strong recommendation!

Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a Sam Adams "Perfect Pint" glass. Pours a dark reddish brown with a nice 3 finger white head of foam. This beer looks brown at all angles, but has a red hue when looked at in front of light. Kinda reminded of blood, haha. Smells of malt, honey, spices, and cream. Initial taste brings a lot of malt flavor with a slight hop presence. Creamy, full flavored, and sweet. The malts really come to life as it goes down, then a quick kickback of hops, then more malt. Incredibly delicious and incredibly drinkable.

I lucked out and got the last 6'er from the local beer store tonight, and damn. I can see why this stuff sells out so fast. It's smooth, it's tasty, and you get six, not just a bomber. I'll be picking this up every chance I get. One of my new favorites.

Robert the Bruce pours a deep dark ruby brown with very little head to speak of. Looks quite nice in the glass and when the light hits it the ruby erupts to catch your eye. The smell is a mix of caramel, chocolate, toffee, nuts, with a nice hoppy backbone. Quite a mix of scents coming through here.

The first taste is a wonderful trip down malt lane. A roasty, nutty malt flavor prevails along with hints of caramel, candied fruits, chocolate and just enough hops to bring it all together nicely. This is my first scottish style ale and it's quite tasty. This is a departure for the super hoppy beers I normally turn to...but it's a nice change of pace with a unique flavor.

Mouthfeel is nice...possibly a little too light...but it goes down smooth and is easy to drink. This is 9% abv and I can hardly even tell. Drinkability is good as well...I could definetly down a good 2-3 of these babies. When I want a nice chage of pace and nice malty brew I will turn to my new friend Robert the Bruce.

Looks real dark with some reddish hues. Creamy 1 finger head that sticks around. Smells good. Smell a little of that alcohol. Getting a real strong malty aroma. Little smoky. Tastes really good. A little crazy right up front. Caramel tastes. Roasted favors. I dig it. I like Scottish ales like this, and this ones real good. Overall like it a lot.

Pours a deep amber/brown with a pretty thin head that is gone pretty quickley,a subtle aroma of alcohol,caramel and a little earthiness.Taste is mildy sweet and pretty earthy for a Scottish ale with a raisin like finish and aftertaste.A pretty thin compared to many Scottish ales I think but still pretty good and highly drinkable for the style.

Appearance  This one showed a beautiful, pitting head atop a wonderful dark brown body.

Smell  This is a complex nose of caramel malts, sharp hops, notes of alcohol, and a bit of smoke. The classic scotch aroma rings true in this Three Floyds effort.

Taste  This is a Scottish monster. The toasted malts are full of caramel, very sweet, and rightly balanced by some stiff piney hops. The finish is straight mashed summer fruits, consisting mainly of watermelon, cantaloupe, and green raisins.

Mouthfeel  This is medium to full in the body and wee heavy for sure. The sugars and fruits are sticky in the mouth. Excellent.

Drinkability  I truly enjoyed this interpretation of the style and had no trouble putting the bottle away. The 9.0 ABV showed just enough of itself to make things fun.

Comments  This much-appreciated ale came from BIF 5.0 and the MFIC himself, Mr. qarre. Thanks Mark for a terrific bottle.

Update  I originally received this back in 2003 in my first ever BIF and was lucky enough to get a bottle of 2006 vintage from BeerGuy. The only thing that struck me differently is that it looks so much better. It looked good before, but now the head was just perfect, just off-white, retentive, and depositing some of the coolest lacing I have ever seen. Im raising the Appearance to a perfect 5.0 and calling it a day. Cheers to Frank!

In brief... When I was young this was my favorite Scotch ale. Then I discovered the great Dane and it became my second favorite. Then Lake Louie came along and all the Scotch Ales on earth were suddenly less than adequate. Today this one hovers high on the drinkablility list but low in all other categories. I must say that this is one beer that is certainly more desirable on tap than it is in the bottle. The mouthfeel alone is a good point better out of the keg. One other particular note that I must also mention is that it has a nice sage brush aroma that is rare in a scotch ale. Otherwise this is a strong brown ale. I don't find much strength or peat in it. The alcohol is too well covered. It reminds me not of Scotland or any other scotch ales. If there were a scotch ale light, this would be it. It is quite a nice beer but not a very good scotch ale. That being said, I still enjoy it and will continue to drink it from time to time.

This one pours a mirky rust color with a thin tan head. The nose is a big waft of hop resin, chased by slight maple. The taste starts with a high-pitched sweetness. Next comes a soft touch of fruity hops,which bow out to a quick alcohol moment which almost washes the palate in preparation for a smoked, petey, scotch-whiskey impersonation. The smokeyness hangs on and turns into a roasted aftertaste. There is a soft ale-fruit undertow throughout.

Mouthfeel is mid-wieght and pleasantly fuzzy.

I have a had alot of scotch/ scottish ale this winter and this one really knocks em out of the park. Its like a big soul-warming bear hug.

T/M: malt, malt and more malt. carmelized sugar, powdered cinammon, some chocolate as well. has a brilliant balance of hops on the finish that dry and compliment the sugar. body is full and of a good consistency. flavorful but not syrupy like other scotch ales. rock.

D: extremely high. I would drink gallons of this stuff if it were available in Mass. Full of flavor but not too viscous.

It poured a rich brown with little to no head (meaning it foamed a bit at its initial pour, but rested comfotably at a lace.) It smelt of a typical Scottish ale with emphasis on molasses. On the tongue, it was full-bodied with little grittiness. No discernable fruit flavors or herbs that I could place. Quite the lager of Scottish ales. Very average, but a well-done average Scottish ale.

It pours an almost dead looking chestnut brown. The color is just a little darker and a little redder than cola. The deadness of the pour transfers to barely any head forming and what little does quickly dies and leaves a still looking beer in the glass.

The nose is has some caramel malt aromas but it's not really strong. I could really dig the nose but some pretty strong fusel alcohol and acetone aroma were present which was very off putting and distracting.

The taste is very unrefined, and kind of a mess. There are some light chocolate flavors, some sweeter malt and still a little bit of acetone. Thank god the acetone isn't nearly as strong as the aroma suggest. I just really hope hope this is a bad batch because this beer is not close to the quality that FFF usually puts out.

The body is medium to medium/full with a pretty low carbonation level and a with a decent residual sweetness . All of these combine to just not please me that much. Even with all of the above noted problems is still is a drinkable beer but I feel like it could be improved and refined into something much better.

S: Huge malt. Slightly smokey, slightly medicinal, touch of rum. The sour bread smell is most dominant. Overall, it is a very unique smell but some of the sickly sweetness was a bit much. Not a bad smell, just not resonating with my taste.

T: Just like the smell would suggest, there is a bready malt on one side and a sugary sweetness on the other. I didn't detect strong hops. The aftertaste is malty. There is a little bit of rum but not too much and the alcohol isn't very noticeable.
M: Nice, smooth, creamy medium bodied brew with low carbonation.

D: I think this would be a nice beer but for me, the bittersweet balance wasn't right, so one in a sitting was just right for me. I am no expert on Scottish Ales but I did like this one more than others I have tried in the past. Nice quality beer.

A lighter mahogany with about an inch of off-white foam. Smells like a malt farm doused in caramel. Some slight chocolate and butterscotch notes. Quite smooth in the delivery. High carbonation and roasted malt at the start that disintegrates into a sweet mid and finish. The mid is a bit watery. It ends really pleasantly for a Scottish, quite sweet and not very boozy. If it were a bit more robust in the middle, it would be extraordinary.

Crystal clear mohogany body with a one finger light tan head. Aroma is sweet malts with a dose of sweet alcohol. Some caramel sweetness as well finishing off with some floral and straw hops. Quite pleasing...

Light caramel malt flavors dominate. A bit of nuttiness as well. Some sweet tea notes in the finish. Tasty. Mouthfeel is somewhat thin feeling. Coats the mouth well but dissapears quickly. Drinkability is good due to the good overall flavor and aroma but its hard to drink too many brews with this octane level.